The ability of alcohol to alter both innate and adaptive immune defenses inevitably impacts how the immune system of even a moderate alcohol drinker can respond to infections. Alcohol alters the makeup of your gut microbiome — home to trillions of microorganisms performing several crucial roles for your health — and affects those microorganisms’ ability to support your immune system. It seems that drinking alcohol may also damage the immune cells that line the intestines and serve as the first line of defense against bacteria and viruses. As soon as you drink a sip of alcohol, your body begins to prioritize breaking down alcohol.
Having a fully functioning immune system is crucial to successful chemotherapy treatment, so a person’s body may not handle or react to conventional chemotherapy as well if they drink alcohol. It’s caused by a bacterial infection that begins elsewhere in the body, such as in the gut, lungs, skin, bladder, or kidneys, and enters the bloodstream. Septicemia is a serious condition because it can cause the bloodstream to carry bacteria and toxins throughout the entire body. Without rapid hospital treatment, septicemia can lead to sepsis, which is life-threatening. Alcohol consumption can allow the hepatitis virus to persist as a chronic condition, and alcohol use disorder combined with hepatitis often accelerates liver disease progression. «Drinking alcohol in large quantities even just for a short period of time — like binge drinking — can be bad for your health and your immune system,» says Favini.
- Some of the most notable contributors to the innate immune response include natural killer (NK) cells, neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells (DCs).
- A person who drinks every day is more likely to have a weakened immune system and experience health complications than someone who rarely drinks or only drinks on occasion.
- The effects of alcohol on both cell-mediated and humoral immunity have been well-documented since the early 1960s, wherein researchers found that alcohol abuse significantly reduced both CD4 and CD8 T-cell counts.
- Moreover, the wide-ranging roles of the immune system present significant challenges for designing interventions that target immune pathways without producing undesirable side effects.
This means that its functioning shifts to focus on breaking down the alcohol and takes its energy from other critical functions such as fighting diseases. While your body is metabolizing alcohol, it has a lower ability to fight off infections and viruses, making you more vulnerable to developing a cold or more serious condition. The effects of alcohol on both cell-mediated and humoral immunity have been well-documented since the early 1960s, wherein researchers found that alcohol abuse significantly reduced both CD4 drunk people feel soberer around heavy drinkers and CD8 T-cell counts. In addition to laboratory studies confirming the impact of alcohol consumption on the innate immune system, several studies have looked at how heavy drinking can alter plasma cytokine levels. To this end, one study analyzed IL-10, IL-6, IL-18, and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) levels in 25 non-treating seeking heavy drinkers after they had consumed an alcoholic drink. The researchers reported significant reductions in the TNF-α levels three and six hours after the alcohol consumption.
Mental health
Although this chronic weakening of lung function may not cause any immediate symptoms, these effects can manifest when a severe respiratory infection occurs. Much progress has been made in elucidating the relationship between alcohol consumption and immune function and how this interaction affects human health. Normal immune function hinges on bidirectional communication of immune cells with nonimmune cells at the local level, as well as crosstalk between the brain and the periphery. These different layers of interaction make validation of the mechanisms by which alcohol affects immune function challenging.
Empyema occurs outside of the lungs, so doctors must remove it via surgery or by draining it with a needle. Those who have any of the known risk factors for COVID-19, like heart disease or diabetes, should drink even less. Your gut microbiome is a hotbed of bacteria that help keep your digestive system happy and healthy. The trillions of microbes in your colon and large and small intestines are critical to proper digestion. “Some people think of the effects of alcohol as only something to be worried about if you’re living with alcohol use disorder, which was formerly called alcoholism,” Dr. Sengupta says.
But when you ingest too much alcohol for your liver to process in a timely manner, a buildup of toxic substances begins to take a toll on your liver. Your liver detoxifies and removes alcohol from your blood through drug addiction and the disability benefits you can get a process known as oxidation. When your liver finishes that process, alcohol gets turned into water and carbon dioxide. Dr. Sengupta shares some of the not-so-obvious effects that alcohol has on your body.
“Alcohol has diverse adverse effects throughout the body, including on all cells of the immune system, that lead to increased risk of serious infections,” said Dr. E. Jennifer Edelman, a Yale Medicine addiction medicine specialist. For example, a 2015 study in the journal Alcohol found that binge drinking can reduce infection-fighting white blood cells known as monocytes in the hours after peak intoxication, essentially weakening your immune system. The respiratory tract contains cilia, which are microscopic projections that move the mucus toward the throat. Alcohol impedes ciliary function in the respiratory system’s upper airways, allowing mucus to enter the lungs, which can lead to pneumonia. Alcohol also impairs immune cell function and weakens epithelial barrier function in the lower airways, which can cause bacterial respiratory infections. Alcohol can hinder the body’s ability to recover from tissue injury and heal infections.
Significant differences between the immune system of the mouse—the primary model organism used in immune studies—and that of humans also complicate the translation of experimental results from these animals to humans. Moreover, the wide-ranging roles of the immune system present significant challenges for designing interventions that target immune pathways without producing undesirable side effects. In a clinical case study reviewed in this issue, Trevejo-Nunez and colleagues report on systemic and organ-specific immune pathologies often seen in chronic drinkers. In such patients, alcohol impairs mucosal immunity in the gut and lower respiratory system.
Protecting our health
And prolonged alcohol use can lead to mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. Your body breaks alcohol down into a chemical called acetaldehyde, which damages your DNA. Damaged DNA can cause a cell to grow out of control, which results in cancerous tumors. When you drink too much alcohol, it can throw off the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut. Cirrhosis, on the other hand, is irreversible and can lead to liver failure and liver cancer, even if you abstain from alcohol. Several studies have demonstrated the dose-dependent effect that alcohol has on preventing both monocytes and macrophages from binding to the bacterial cell wall component lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
Lowered inhibitions can lead to poor choices with lasting repercussions — like the end of a relationship, an accident or legal woes. Each of those consequences can cause turmoil that can negatively affect your long-term all opiates detox emotional health. But prolonged alcohol abuse can lead to chronic (long-term) pancreatitis, which can be severe. Having a glass of wine with dinner or a beer at a party here and there isn’t going to destroy your gut.
Effects of alcohol on adaptive immunity
Frequent and heavy alcohol consumption can suppress the immune system, making the body vulnerable to viruses and infections. Alcohol misuse can cause short-term effects such as the common cold or gastrointestinal complications, but it can also lead to more serious conditions such as cancer, septicemia, or, liver disease. As reviewed by Szabo and Saha, alcohol’s combined effects on both innate and adaptive immunity significantly weaken host defenses, predisposing chronic drinkers to a wide range of health problems, including infections and systemic inflammation. Alcohol’s widespread effects on immune function also are underscored in the article by Gauthier, which examines how in utero alcohol exposure interferes with the developing immune system in the fetus.
Alcohol and the microbiome
Often, the alcohol-provoked lung damage goes undetected until a second insult, such as a respiratory infection, leads to more severe lung diseases than those seen in nondrinkers. Each time a person drinks alcohol, some of the liver’s cells die, and new ones regenerate. Over time, heavy drinking can reduce a liver’s regenerative abilities and lead to alcoholic liver disease (ALD). This alcoholic liver disease typically starts as fatty liver disease and progresses to alcoholic hepatitis and, eventually, alcoholic liver cirrhosis. And it’s not just that you’re more likely to get a cold — excessive drinking is linked to pneumonia and other pulmonary diseases. It can also lead to a wide range of health problems, including high blood pressure and heart disease, liver disease, and increased risk of cancer.
Heavy drinking and chronic alcohol use can significantly impact the immune system and decrease immune function. These disruptions to the composition of the gut microbiota and to gut barrier function have important implications beyond the intestinal system. Infection with viral hepatitis accelerates the progression of ALD, and end-stage liver disease from viral hepatitis, together with ALD, is the main reason for liver transplantations in the United States. The article by Dolganiuc in this issue explores the synergistic effects of alcohol and hepatitis viruses on the progression of liver disease as well as alcohol consumption’s injurious effect on liver antiviral immunity.
Cellulitis, Post-Surgery Complications, and, Slow Healing of Wounds
But unhealthy factors, like stress, smoking, or drinking alcohol, can be taxing for your immune system and make it harder for it to fight off infection. Each of these events is mediated by the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB), which can be inhibited by alcohol consumption and thus prevent the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In vivo studies have confirmed that binge drinking with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of approximately 0.4% can reduce the production of various inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-10, and IL-12. Alcohol–immune interactions also may affect the development and progression of certain cancers. Meadows and Zhang discuss specific mechanisms through which alcohol interferes with the body’s immune defense against cancer. They note, too, that a fully functioning immune system is vital to the success of conventional chemotherapy.